Democrats Go Nuclear in New Ad Targeting Donald Trump

With a mushroom cloud and at least $5 million worth of TV airtime behind it, the new ad from the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA is sure to stand out in a crowded political landscape.

The spot, “I Love War,” which was shared first with NBC News, will run widely in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Nevada and Iowa starting Friday. It includes no narration, opting instead for images of war juxtaposed with Trump’s own words.

It opens with bodies of soldiers being loaded onto a helicopter during the Vietnam War as Trump says, “I’m really good at war, I love war, in a certain way.”

Next is a mushroom cloud and video of nuclear test blasts as Trump says, “including with nukes.”

Then it’s footage of Islamist militants drilling as Trump says, “I know more about ISIS than the generals.”

The ad fits with Democrats’ message that Trump is, as Priorities USA spokesperson Justin Barasky said, “too unpredictable and too dangerous to ever be President of the United States.”

Like the Clinton campaign's official ads, it takes a page from President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign against Barry Goldwater in 1964. Back then, the invocation of nuclear war to scare voters was considered so controversial that Johnson’s camp quickly pulled an ad featuring a mushroom cloud. But the ad, “Daisy,” generated so much discussion that it went on to be considered one of the most successful and famous political ads of all time.